Sarah and Bod's story - determination and confidence helped them to achieve the birth they'd dreamed of.

I woke in the early hours of Wednesday morning having regular tightenings but as I'd had them so many times previously during the last seven weeks of pregnancy I chose to ignore them. I managed to listen to the ‘relax with nature mp3’ and drifted back to sleep whilst still having tightenings.

During the day on Wednesday the tightenings continued but, as it was the summer holidays I still had my son to entertain for the day (a great distraction)! I built Lego with Marley whilst sitting on my gym ball and listening to my affirmations (which by now Marley was repeating over to himself!), and then we went to see some friend for a relaxing cuppa, all the while joking that we might have to deliver the baby!

At 3pm, with strong (and becoming uncomfortable) pressure around my ribcage and upper abdomen, we walked home and I continued to bounce on the gym ball whilst I phoned my mum, and she joked about knowing a good chimney sweep; we were all fed up with the seven weeks of false starts! 

I got into the bath as my tightenings were much stronger and three minutes apart.  I used my tightenings as practice for my waves of relaxation.  I put on the Cove of Confidence mp3 as I knew I would potentially be facing a battle at the hospital for my chosen birth, as I'd tested positive for Group B Strep and wanted a water birth (the hospital had already stated they weren't keen on it).

Having been into and back out of the hospital, having not begun dilating, by midnight I was experiencing a lot of discomfort and found it hard to lie down to sleep, so I sat in the living room with the lights dimmed and the television on attempting to distract myself from another false start! I was so engrossed in the first episode of Dr.Who that I hadn’t realised by contractions were coming every minute and a half! 

I stood up to go to the toilet and that was when I felt an enormous pressure in my hips and pelvis – I felt that I wanted to be on all fours so went back into the bedroom and woke Bod, he got up and made us both a cup of tea, we spoke for a while about whether or not to call maternity. At 2am.  We arrived back at St.Marys, to be greeted by the same midwife who was adamant that I was not in labour, a couple of hours earlier, and that just by looking at how calm and relaxed I was, she knew she would be sending me home again!

Upon my request, she examined me again and had a look of complete disbelief to discover that I was 5cm dilated and baby was definitely on it’s way!

The labour ward midwife next informed me that it wasn't possible for me to have a water birth, as I'd tested positive for group B strep. This is when I felt The Wise Hippo classes had really helped me maintain my confidence and be clear with the healthcare providers what my wishes were. I told the midwife and consultant that my plans had already been given the go ahead by their colleagues previously, after much debate a few weeks, and I would not be scared into a birth of convenience to them. 

Another midwife stepped up and had some suggestions of how we could work together to arrive at the birth I wanted with the medical support that they could provide to fit. I had an IV line fitted and antibiotics administered, this only took a short while and Bod and I continued to laugh and joke whilst waiting for the pool to be filled.

We were led into the pool room and both of us were so excited walking down the corridor knowing that we were soon going to meet our baby, we couldn’t believe how perfect the room was we put around pictures from Marley and set up the speakers. We listened to some affirmations and I leant on Bod using him for support when I could feel a surge coming, he spoke me through my breathing and cuddled me when one passed.

Once in the pool we put on a playlist for labour and just continued to laugh and chat between surges. Bod was amazing, he was able to read what I needed he stroked my back and cooled me with a cool flannel, he told me how brilliantly I was doing and reminded me that we were going to be meeting our little girl very soon. After a couple of hours I asked Bod to get the midwife as I felt I was ready to push, she was very shocked and said I couldn’t possibly be ready as my waters hadn’t broken and I was still very calm.

I went to the toilet and suddenly my waters broke in the bathroom. The sensations now felt very different and I absolutely felt my body knew what it was doing. I got back in the pool and the staff changed shifts I was pleased to see the midwife who delivered Marley! She had read through my birth plan and was happy to just observe.

I planned to breathe through my surges but began to feel the urgency to push and after 20 minutes I was sure I could feel baby crowning but the midwife told me she could not see baby’s head. She said maybe I should have a jiggle; I did a few jumps up and down whilst Bod joked about the baby falling out! I sat on the birthing stool with Bod supporting me from behind and after fives surges baby was out!

The midwife could see that she had been coming out eyebrow first she said had I not listened to my body and jumped around baby would not have been able to be delivered naturally as she was wedged!

Ellena was beautiful and pink so alert and very quiet. She was handed straight to me whilst we waited for the cord to stop pulsating.  Bod cut the cord and we had a natural third stage. It was so relaxed and laid back the midwives were in no rush to move me along and after only four hours on the labour ward I laid with my brand new baby and fed her.  Bod cuddled her skin to skin and we were left just the three of us feeling on top of the world having had the birth we had dreamed of.   

Sarah and Bod attended group classes with Birth Wight in May 2014